Carlo Joins Spurs On A Free

Tottenham have today completed the signing of Italian goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini on a free transfer from Chelsea.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp stepped up his pursuit of a new keeper when his under-fire No.1 Heurelho Gomes was injured, and when veteran Spanish keeper Cesar Sanchez joined Valencia on Friday, Redknapp was forced to select Gomes as his back-up keeper to Ben Alnwick for Saturday's FA Cup defeat at Manchester United.

Carlo joined the Blues on loan in 1999 from Italian side Castel Di Sangro and signed a permanent deal a year later for £130,000. He was voted Chelsea Player of the Year in 2002, but has found his chances limited since Petr Cech's arrival in 2004. Cudicini's arrival will provide competition for Gomes, who has also been the subject of much criticism this season.

Carlo will be sorely missed at the Bridge where he gave long service and support to the other keepers, never moaning about his lack of first team opportunities and he thoroughly deserves his chance of first team football, having no trouble in becoming a permanent member of the Tottenham team.

Chelsea 3 Ipswich Town 1

Michael Ballack was Chelsea’s FA Cup hero as he scored twice to beat a plucky Ipswich side 3-1 at Stamford Bridge with Frank Lampard adding a stunning third.

Ballack struck either side of a goal from Alex Bruce – son of former FA Cup winner Steve Bruce – to end Ipswich’s hopes of creating a major upset and send Chelsea into the Fifth Round.

But the Championship side were always in the game and it was only a 35-yard special from Lampard that truly ended their dreams.

The Blues started strongly and should have gone ahead after only nine minutes when Ballack was found unmarked from an excellent Anelka cross but fired his shot wide.

By the 16th minute the home side had found a way through with an excellently-worked effort.

This time the outstanding Lampard swept a cross-field pass out to his England team-mate Ashley Cole who, at full pace, pulled it back for Ballack to stretch and turn home first time.

It was a goal Chelsea deserved - but then their old defensive problems returned as they gifted Ipswich a foothold in the match.

Blues manager Luiz-Felipe Scolari has had his players working hard on defending set pieces but it seems they still haven’t found the perfect system.

Because when Owen Garvan whipped in a free-kick after 32 minutes the home team were all at sea as the ball cannoned off Ricardo Carvalho – and straight into the path of Bruce to fire home unchallenged.

Suddenly Ipswich were filled with confidence and a famous FA Cup shock looked possible.

But Chelsea eventually turned to star striker Didier Drogba to try and save the day, bringing him on after 57 minutes, and it reaped instant dividends.

Almost immediately his strike partner Anelka won a free-kick a minute which Ballack curled home superbly for 2-1.

Ipswich had chances to equalise but when Lampard sent an incredible free-kick arrowing high into the net after 85 minutes the game was all over.